Milk and Miles part two: everything is bigger in Texas

After the wedding in San Francisco, we hopped on an early morning flight bound for Austin, Texas to visit Alyse, eat tacos and queso, take a quick weekend detour to Dallas to visit friends, and challenge ourselves as parents on our longest ever flight with the little man.

Long flights with little people

For the first leg of our flight to Austin (Portland to San Diego), Colby mostly just ate and slept and it was about as smooth a flight as anyone could ever hope for with a 6 month old.

Our layover in San Diego was a different story, it was anything but smooth. After entertaining him (and of course changing him) at the gate, he got super tired and cranky and decided to scream his head off. I walked him all around the terminal trying to calm him down or perhaps, soothe him to sleep. While annoying, I was thankful that once it was time to board the plane again, he was calm. He was relatively easy (again for a 6 month old) on the way to Austin. He napped, he ate, and then he demanded entertainment. We brought out all the toys and made all the funny noises while he tried desperately to push off of us and explore and grab everything around him.

The return flight was a lot of the same, only slightly elevated by new entertainment options: the Baby Einstein music box toy that Alyse kindly let us borrow.

Austin highlights

All the babies

One of the biggest (and probably obvious) highlights of our Austin adventure was getting to see Alyse and the fam.

I loved seeing all of the little cousins together, and it was pretty awesome to have a partner in crime while nursing. Plus, Colby and baby Levi were just so adorable rolling around on the ground like a bunch of drunks.

Tacos & queso

The second highlight of the trip was obviously tacos…and queso. I think my favorite ones came from Veracruz Taco Bar (the migas taco is pure perfection!). We enjoyed our tacos with cold brew coffee from the adjacent Radio Coffee & Beer (the outdoor picnic tables and wifi are clutch for working, taco eating, and hanging with a baby).

I’m pretty sure we ate at least one breakfast taco every day and I’m more than ok with that.

Other favorite eats included the food carts at the Texas Farmer’s Market on Mueller and Sour Duck Market.

Both places made eating with babies a breeze – big, casual, outdoor areas perfect for loud noises and the need to get up and walk around constantly – and of course good food (and bevs!).

 

Running + Yoga

I ran all the greenways around Alyse’s house.

 

And even ran downtown one of the days in the stifling heat and humidity and decided after nearly 6 miles to just grab an Uber to meet Alyse, Casey and Colby at Radio Coffee & Beer for breakfast tacos.

We made plenty of time for yoga and checked out some great studios, including BFREE Yoga and Breath and Body Yoga.

I liked the class at BFREE Yoga so much (it reminded me a lot of home), I ended up going back for round two before jumping on our flight home.

Texas hiking

We did a lot of urban hiking and baby carrying walks, which is surprisingly difficult in the Texas heat and humidity.

My favorite hike was when we took both babies out to Zilker Park and walked around by Barton Springs, took the bridge to look out over downtown, and explore some of the park’s trails.

 

Dallas highlights

We drove from Austin to Dallas on a Friday afternoon so we could spend the weekend visiting with some of Casey’s college friends who live in the Southlake area. The drive went relatively smooth as long as I was sitting in the backseat, armed with plenty of entertainment options for Colby. For this particular part of the journey, I wasn’t really too sad about having to sit in the back and entertain Colby because honestly, I wasn’t missing a whole lot on the drive itself. For the most part, it was just flat. Really flat.

It rains big in Dallas

By the time we arrived in Dallas, it had started raining. At first it was lightly raining, something that felt similar enough to home, but almost as soon as we pulled into our friend’s house, the raindrops became HUGE. It was like Portland rain on steroids, or rain Texas style, I suppose.

From the minute we pulled in to the minute we left Dallas, it seemed to rain. And it wasn’t the kind of rain where you could just pull your hood up and ignore it, it was relentless and big rain.

Big kids are the best

One of the best parts about our Dallas visit was spending time with our friend’s little girls, not only because they are just the sweetest little girls ever but also because they absolutely LOVED Colby and entertained him all weekend long.

They were great at playing with him and tiring him out each day – it felt like the best kind of break for mom and dad!

Colby’s first aquarium visit

Since it was raining all day, we opted for a kid, rain, and adult friendly activity that I could really get behind – the aquarium.

And Colby absolutely loved it. There were lights, moving things, and colors galore.

And of course, running + yoga!

Of course, I also managed to squeeze in some good runs, which was a fun way to explore all of the big, Texas style homes in the area.

And I went to a yoga class at a brand-new studio, Inspire Yoga (the Grapevine location) with the lovely Tara.

All in all, the Texas portion of our Milk & Miles tour was awesome; it was filled with family time, friends, fun activities, and of course, good food. And what’s even better is that I think it helped boost our parenting confidence. We managed two long-ish flights, long travel days, and hours on the road like a couple of parent bosses.

Stay sweat y’all.

Xo

Jamie